Things Google AdWords is Good At

Let’s continue our conversation about Google AdWords. How can you use it correctly to the get most bang for your buck?? Find out on today’s Honest SEO Basics Tip!

Hi, I’m Vi Wickam for the Get Listed Program and Social Edge/Social Media Training. This is Honest SEO Basics. And today, we are going to talk about Google AdWords and specifically, what is Google AdWords good at?

Google AdWords can be awesome if it’s managed well. Google AdWords, when it’s rocking, can be an instant money machine- where any time you put in a dollar, you get $2 out, $5 out, and even $10 out.

I do have clients that get a return on their Google AdWords of around $10 for every $1 they put in. So, it is possible.

And not all my customers get that. Certainly, that’s not average performance- that’s not average results. But it’s possible! At least for some customers, sometimes.

Google AdWords can be a money machine where all the money I put in comes back, multiplied.

When I have specific keywords that I can choose, and I know that those keywords represent potential customers that are in the buying cycle that are ready to buy, Google AdWords is great at presenting them a webpage- an ad, that links to a webpage, that can convert them into a customer.

So that’s the key right there. We have to choose keywords that are near the end of the buying cycle.

So for instance, if I was selling a fishing rod, and I bit on keywords. Say I’m selling a G Loomis NRX fishing rod, and it’s a specific model- the… (I’m just making this number up) 733C. G Loomis NRX 733C is the fishing rod that I’m trying to sell.

If I get a searcher just typing in “fishing rod”, chances are they are not my customer. Chances are they don’t even know what kind of fishing rod they want.

So if I show them an ad for a G Loomis NRX 733C, they may click on it and they may cost me a dollar for that click, but there’s no way that they’re prepared to buy a $500 fishing rod. The odds are very small that they’re even close to ready.

There’s even a greater chance that they’re not even interested in a $500 fishing rod. They may want the $29.99 Zebco fishing rod from K-Mart.

That’s what I’m talking about when I talk about choosing a specific keyword based on where they are in the buying process.

If I’m selling photography and I’m selling bridal photography in Fort Collins, Colorado, I’m not just going to buy the keyword “photographer”.

I might buy “wedding photography Fort Collins, Colorado” or “Fort Collins Colorado wedding photography”. But if I just buy “photographer”, that’s far too general to actually create a customer.

So, when I choose a great keyword and I then present an ad that relates to that keyword, and then I follow that ad with a page that ties in directly with the keyword and the ad, and I’ve led them down this path…

And they search “G Loomis NRX 733” or “NRX 733 fishing rod”, and I show them an ad that says “G Loomis NRX fishing rod, 733C”… They click on it and they land on the product page for “G Loomis NRX 733C”.

They’re like “That’s exactly what I was looking for! And the price is reasonable- add to cart! Let’s go!” Because they’ve already done the research and they already know what it should cost.

So, we want to present them the ad when they’re ready to buy. If we present them a ready ad for a product that they’re ready to buy, it’s a whole lot better chance we’re going to convert that person to a customer.

So that’s a little tip on what Google AdWords is good at.

It is great at transactional connection when somebody’s ready to buy. We are presenting somebody that is in the transaction process with an ad for the thing they want to buy.

If we don’t do that, Google AdWords is not going to be good for us. Google AdWords is a transactional ad medium. So don’t try to use it for anything other than that, because that’s not what it’s good at.

It’s good at converting somebody who’s ready to be somebody’s customer, into your customer.